About this title: International in scope, this series of non-fiction trade paperbacks offers books that explore the lives, customs and thoughts of peoples and cultures around the world.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: F First Paperback Edition Used
Binding: S Paperback
Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc, New York
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781568360706ISBN:1568360703
Description: Good-Cheap Reading Copy. 8vo-over 7�"-9�" tall A Good cheap reading copy. Edge/corner wear to wraps. Ink and highlighting to text. read more
Binding: Wraps
Publisher: National Geographic Society, Washington, DC
Date Published: 1929
Description: VG. 8vo. Entire June 1929 issue National Geographic Magazine. 46 illustrations to Lattimore's article from pp. 661 to 702. Entire issue. Spine frayed at bottom, interior VG. read more
Edition: First Edition, Second Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Kodansha International, Cary, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781568360706ISBN:1568360703
Description: Very Good to Fine. No Jacket as Issued. Trade Paperback. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Wrap has very light edge and corner wear. Text and pages are clean. A very nice gently used copy. read more
Description: Good. 8vo. Cloth, 1929. The usual ex-library treatments are present. pp. xv, 373, bound in black cloth with orange lettering. Front hinge starting, though rear hinge is strong. Edges deckled. The textblock is tight and square, and the pages are clean and intact. Pastedowns and end papers double as maps. Includes frontispiece and photographic illustrations throughout. Slight edgewear. Offered by the Antiquarian, Rare, and Collectable Books section at Better World Books. 100% Satisfaction ... read more
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co., Boston
Date Published: 1929
Description: Illustrated. Good. No Jacket. Hard Back. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. -RARE--------The cover has light shelf wear and the top of the spine has been taped with clear tape. The pages has yellowing.......Heavy book..........We are very careful when we list our books, but sometimes something minor may get by.. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown & Company
Date Published: 1929
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Size: 8vo; Light wear to covers. Lettering on the spine partialy faded. Text clean and unmarked. The binding is tight and square. read more
Edition: 1st Edition 1st Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co., Boston, MA
Date Published: 1929
Description: 2 Endmaps, 40 B/W Photos. VG. No Dust Jacket 373pgs(Index) Cloth slightly frayed head & foot of spine, worn at fore-edge corners, owner bookplate inside front cover, ink owner name. Inside rear cover top edge, 2 Index pages slightly chipped at fore-edges where they were roughly opened, o.w. clean & tight. Text bright & in Fine condition. read more
Edition: 1st Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Methuen & Company, London
Date Published: 1928
Description: VG/NONE. B00085ZMZU. Orange cloth boards rubbing to extremities with fraying at spine ends, corners lightly bumped. Hinges cracked with map endpapers separating at gutter. Foxing throughout but most prominent on front endpapers and outer edge of volume. All 48 illustrations present, a scarce first edition travel book.; MCN10461; 8vo 8"-9" tall; 331 pp. read more
Description: First edition. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1929, xvi, 373 pp., 39 illus. in b&w, b&w frontis, endpaper maps showing the author's route. Spine tips show some wear, spine lettering faded. Internally, clean, tight and very good. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Library Bound
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co., Boston
Date Published: 1929
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Ex-Library. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Retired library book bound in orange buckram, frontispiece, very well illustrated with photographs, typical library markings, condition very good with only minor wear overall. 001858. read more
"Amazing story of Owen Lattimore's 1927 journey via camel caravan to rejoin his wife for their honeymoon in Chinese Turkestan (modern Xinjiang), in the midst of the warlord era."
"A well-written travelogue of one man's travels into Inner and Outer Mongolia. I could not help but like the author as he describes his travels with honesty, humility (compared with other "explorers" of his time particularly, who had servants to take care of them in their explorations), and sense of humor. Now I want to visit Mongolia."
"Owen Lattimore, the successively famous Chinese and Mongolian scholar and much debated presumptive "comunist agent" of the McCartney period, wrote this book in 1927 after his incredible caravan voyage along the then unmapped "Winding Road" in Inner Mongolia of 1926. The reason for this ethnological feat was the Author's convinction that caravan days were going to disappear with the progress beeing made in China by railways and roads and as he puts it: "I wanted to feel the strange and actual life of the past which we usually accept without thought as the dead background of our present". The choice of the Winding Road instead of the more common and mapped Silk Road routes was determined by the then dangerous traveling conditions due to war going on in China. Lattimore's intention must be kept in mind while reading this exquisite work. Many of the apparent drawbacks of the book such as the excessive detail in the use of foreign toponyms, the frequent digressions into prices of wares, habits of people, legends and stories related to places are in reality a treasure of knwoledge that has been preserved for ever. However, the "winding" of Lattimore's prose and thoughts does not hinder the enjoyability of this adventure, because the Desert Road is an adventure book of the best tradition. The adventure of a smart and curious and brave young man that is completely engrossed in his dream but at the same times does not recoil from living and learning from the men he travels with. The characters such as Moses, the Villainous Camel Puller and Wa-wa, the Eldest Son of the House of Chou are etched with great care and deep understanding and even if there are no "strong episodes", the interactions among them is interesting to follow and works like the backbone of the story. But the real magic of the book is the description of the days, the atmospheres and the landscapes, the animals (camels and others), the physical excertion and the the inconveniences and the moments of joy and peace.The Black Gobi is looming in the back of the whole story with its camel skeletons and buried water wells. The book also offers many photographs shot by the Author that illustrate significant episodes and people. I think this book is an indispensable read in the approach to Inner Mongolia and its traditions and represents at the same time a specialistic and a non-specilistic historical document that will not be forgotten like many other travel books of those times.
P.S. If one is curious on the House of the False Lama (see the more recent George Crane's Beyond the House of the False Lama) in the DRTT you can find many answers. The introduction by the Author's son David Lattimore helps to contextualize the book and gives many useful information for cross-references."
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